The Script Lab
TSL Free Screenplay Contest
2024
Reads in Coverfly
Active Since 2019
A free competition through which winners receive exposure to a strong industry network and cash prizes. Limit one submission per person.
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About

Calling all writers for year six of The Script Lab’s FREE Screenplay Contest!


Come celebrate with us as we re-open our search for top new writers and projects. We’ve already helped past winners sign with Hollywood managers and option their work to producers. You could be next. We’re accepting features, TV pilots and short screenplays because great writing comes in all genres and formats.


Who said nothing good in life is free? Clearly they haven’t met The Script Lab yet.


Looking for Feedback? Feedback is an effective tool that can help you jumpstart your evolution as a screenwriter. Get your screenplay in the best shape possible by having someone with industry knowledge give you their insights to help your script stand out. You can add feedback to you entry which includes three pages of notes from a qualified industry reader.

Benefits

Here’s What All Three Winners Receive

  • • Distribution to our network of nearly a thousand industry professionals.
  • • Career consultation session with Coverfly’s Writer Development team.
  • • One Year Membership to TSL 360 screenwriting video library.
  • • 20 tokens for free peer-to-peer notes through coverflyX.


Additionally:

  • The first place winner will receive $500 plus, an optional written article published on The Script Lab about your work and journey, distributed to over 200,000 monthly readers and over 100,000 members.

  • The 2nd place winner will receive $100.

  • The 3rd place winner will receive $50.

Writer Success

My script made the quarterfinals and boosted my Coverfly Rank to the top 16 percent. TSL was instrumental in moving the needle on my project as I was able to put the win in my queries - which resulted in me landing my manager who's attaching his client, Tara Reid to the project as lead!!!
Moricz Twins
2021 Quarterfinalist
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Coverfly Program Insights
Coverfly vets all programs on its platform, but not every program is right for every writer. Program Insights help you decide where to submit your work.

2024 Winners on Coverfly

Inside Me
Private
Feature  · Horror  · 80 Pages
A man struggles to survive through a horrifying form of pregnancy.
Sherman Oaks, CA
Darien was born in the Far East of Soviet Russia and grew up in Boston. He has acted in a number of short films and indie features, as well as donning various hats on the production side, from dolly grip to director. Fascinated with the intersection of technology and storytelling, he holds two patents and has produced and directed a sci-fi teaser de...
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Top 6%
TV Script  · Comedy  · 35 Pages
After Violet, a wayward nun, witnesses a murder and is sent on the run, she is forced to confront her curiosity about sex, boys, and the world outside her convent walls.
New York, NY
April is an Korean American award-winning screenwriter based between NYC and Copenhagen.
Top 5%
Feature  · Thriller  · 96 Pages
In the vein of Hitchcock’s Rear Window: A recently traumatized teen witnesses a murder in the beach house across the street, but when no one believes her, she seeks out the answers herself and finds her own life in jeopardy.
Writer, producer, and director Danielle Weinberg won The Script Lab's 2024 Free Screenplay Contest with her feature screenplay COASTAL WATCH, which placed first out of more than 15,000 scripts. She recently sold an original romcom feature script, and her play MURDER, PARTY OF TEN was featured in the 2023 New Works Festival of the Long Beach Shakespe...
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See Other Placements

Announcements

May 3rd
Semifinalists
May 22nd
Finalists
Jun 14th
Winners

Rules

At the program's request, Coverfly will automatically remove your title page for you if you include one when submitting to this program.

  • Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only and must be entered by the final deadline. Duplicate free submissions will be automatically eliminated.
  • Only one submission per writer is allowed. Any other submissions will be disregarded.
  • We recommend shorts be between 2 – 30 pages, 1/2 hour TV between 20 – 35 pages (with the exception of multicam scripts), 1-hour TV between 40 – 65 pages, and Features between 80 – 120 pages. 
  • Feature screenplays must be a maximum of 120 pages. Screenplays over 120 pages will be automatically eliminated if submitted into our free category.

  • Feature screenplays over 120 pages submitted to the coverage category will be charged $1 per page over 120 pages.
  • Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates listed above by 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
  • All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be wholly owned by the writer(s).
  • Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s). All writers must be credited on title page.
  • If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submitted the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize money.
  • Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for a limited time with a $6 re-entry fee through Coverfly. Please proofread your script carefully before submitting.
  • It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or Copyright Registration with The Library of Congress before submitting to any competition, however, we do not require registration.
  • Your contact info may be included on the cover page of the screenplay, however, it is not required.
  • All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remain with the original rights holders.